In March 1942, British soldier John Beat was on leave in Cairo, Egypt. He served with the 14th Base Supply Depot (BSD) of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), managing stores and provisions for troops fighting in North Africa. His role kept him behind the front lines, but the war was never far away.
During their time off, Beat and his closest friends stumbled upon a photobooth — a popular novelty in Cairo at the time. They squeezed into the small curtained booth and threw military composure out the window. Instead of stiff, formal portraits, they pulled faces and clowned around for the camera.
The booth gave them a rare private space to simply be young men again — laughing, joking, and briefly free from the weight of their uniforms.
The resulting photo strips are candid and unguarded. Each frame captures a different expression — grinning, gurning, hamming it up. These were not photographs meant for official records or family mantelpieces. They were personal keepsakes, made quickly and kept close.
Beat saved the strips in his personal wartime photo album, where they remained alongside other mementos from his time in North Africa. They document a genuine moment of friendship in the middle of a global war.
